Interview –
Real Vampire News
I recently
had the honour of being interviewed – twice by the creators and hosts of Real
Vampire News. To tie everything together I thought it would be great if they
would grant me the offer of an interview for my blog.
I hereby
introduce to you all – Real Vampire News.
Thanks for
participating.
Tim: Good morning Nadine and thank you
for inviting us to participate.
LadyM:
Greetings Nadine it is a pleasure to be here. In the interest of time and space I shall let
Tim answer the questions as we both strongly share the same views and opinions
with regard to RVN and vampirism.
1) As a
start please introduce yourselves and tell the readers a bit about - Real
Vampire News. Why was it started, how has it grown?
John: Hello Nadine. I am the Owner of Real
Vampire News. I officially opened the service on February 17th, 2010.
I opened
it with this vision in mind:
“The main motivation for Real Vampire
News is to provide news articles, short stories, explanations, and pretty much
anything else pertaining to Real Vampirism. While it started out as the
illegitimate brainchild of me, John Reason, it has become quite a bit more.
Real vampires, donors, and just plain regular folks have come together to
create something great – a place where people can come to learn about real
vampire news, and other news of direct relation. People have helped out from
all across the globe. I think that sometimes the fact gets forgotten that the
internet has afforded us all great opportunities to get together and
enjoy each other’s company. So let’s do just that; we’ll all get along, and
read together.”
Kind
regards,
John Reason
Owner & webmaster Real Vampire
News
Tim:
I am Tim; I am currently the Managing Editor; while John is attending to
other matters, and Staff Writer for RVN.
Over the
past two years RVN has grown to incorporate more of an E-Zine aspect in which
we endeavour to provide our readers with a range of informed comment,
representatives from around the real vampire community and community oriented
entertainment and news.
LadyM: I am the Assistant Editor and Chief
Researcher for RVN. I came on board at the same time as Tim and I provide
support and data gathering for the materials that are published at RVN. I am a
Psi-vamp, born and have been in the OVC for 12 years now.
2) How have
the likes of Edward Cullen, Dracula and modern movies and series influenced
interest in your site?
Tim: At RVN we have a steady readership
of an average 1000 page views per day, that, we believe, puts us in the
category of the most widely patronised “periodicals” in the vampire community.
There is no doubt that modern movies have influenced the thinking of a
generation about vampires; it is an unfortunate fact that to many outside the
community we are somehow equated with the silver screen versions of vampires.
We still get, at RVN, people who come to us asking “how to become a vampire”,
“I want to meet a real vampire” or, “how do I get turned into a vampire”. It is
quite common that with the release of a new movie about vampires we experience
a surge in reader numbers.
3) How does
religion influence the Real Vampire?
Tim: While we can’t speak for the entire
world’s vampire population, it can be perceived that religion has little
influence on the vampiric outside of the influence it would normally exert on
their everyday lives. In the article “Vampyres and Religion – Do the undead pray?”
(RVN December 7, 2011)
[http://www.realvampirenews.com/2011/12/vampyres-and-religion-do-the-undead-pray/]
we examined the impact, influences and the question of whether modern real
vampires could have a religious life that was attuned with their vampiric life.
In the
conclusion to the article I observed:
“Subsequently
I can determine no reason why vampyres may not practice religion, in freedom
and in a socially acceptable way, than any other free-thinking being. The ages
old concept propagated by many orthodox religions, that sins are forgiven if
you perform certain simple rites, guarantee that vampyres also have a method by
which – if they are of these particular religious persuasions – they may gain
absolution.”
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4) Can real
vampires only survive on human blood or is any blood a feasible option? Is
drinking blood something that has more of a psychological affect or is it
similar to the needs of normal humans eating food?
Tim: This question has been at the
forefront of dispute, discussion and argument since the OVC began, back around
1997 and, I would venture to suggest, before that. It is a question to which
the answer is as unique as the individual answering it. I have friends in the
community who are adamant that they cannot survive in good health without the
ingestion of blood; not, I would point out, necessarily human blood but that is
the preferred. Real vampires are, first and foremost, human beings. That being
a given fact then they are bound by the same physiological needs as any other
human. The reasons for, and effects of, ingesting blood are still the subject
of intense discussion even today and as yet there is no tangible evidence to
suggest that it is, or is not, a biophysical requirement of the real living
sanguinarian vampire.
5) Where do
these vampires usually obtain blood from? I mean yes there is a lot of death
and destruction in the world but if they had to feed on humans daily would it
not be something that would be obvious by now? ( and not just speculated)
Tim: Firstly, and I hope I’m not
shattering any cherished illusions here, vampires do not creep about at night
and bite people on the neck… unless of course they are criminals of unsound
mind. There are a number of sources that human vampires may obtain blood. The
most common, naturally, is the relationship between a human living vampire and
their donor. The donor provides, at intervals and by consent, the vampire with
small amounts of their blood for consumption. Another source that I have been
told of by friends in the community is the blood of animals from butchers,
although I would point out that these same friends do not consider this a good
substitute for human blood.
6) What are
the different types of vampires known to the modern day world – what defines
them?
Tim: Now that is a big question… I will
try and break it down for you as best I can and please bear in mind that this
“list” is the product of my own reading, research and experience and is certainly
not the be-all-end-all of the matter.
To begin
with the basic divisions between the “types” of real vampire can be placed in
two broad categories, Sanguinarian and Psi, or Psychic.
The
Sanguinarian vampire is one that requires the regular ingestion of blood to
maintain their health and well-being.
The Psi, or
Psychic, vampire requires the ingestion or absorption of “life energy” to
remain so.
The
Sanguinarian vampire is pretty much defined by their one need but within the
Psi category there are sub-categories. These sub-categories, generally
speaking, are Empath (feeds off the energy created by emotions around them)
Elemental (feeds off the ambient natural energies in their environment) Eros
(Feeds off the energies created during sexual encounters) and Astral (vampires
that employ out of body travel in the astral plane to feed from others)
Hybrid-Vampires
are those living vampires who combine two or more of the above traits, for
example, a Psi-Sang Vampire is one who is able to feed off both blood and
energy although I believe that the former is preferred in the majority of
cases.
There are
other variations on this theme; there are subtle sub-classifications such as
“Lifestylers” (people who dress and live the part without claiming to be real
vampires) “Role Players” (those who indulge in a fantasy game where they assume
the characters of vampires based mostly on literary or entertainment personas)
and, even more subtly, “Nightimers”, “Daywalkers”, “Shadowalkers”, “Classicals”
and “Inheritors”.
From all I have seen, learned and read during the last eleven
years the matter of one’s personal vampirism, and its interpretation, is as
unique and varied as the individual themselves.
7) Do people
these days cast vampire identification in the same category as Goths – your
opinion?
Tim: No, in general I don’t believe so.
In the old days… and at the risk of sounding too old, I’m talking around ’79,
’80 and ’81, I was originally involved with the post-punk Goth movement in my
home town but when that unidentified “need” manifested itself in modern living
vampirism we were even shunned by the Goths.
LadyM: Goths are a separate sub-culture;
they are the same as the “beatniks” of the fifties. They generally don’t have
anything to do with vampirism; their culture maintains their freedom of
expression in their music and the way they dress. It does not necessarily
follow the vampire. There are real living vampires who do like to dress in
black and look somewhat “Goth” in appearance but we really shouldn’t mix the
two.
8) Where do
you see yourselves within the next 10 years?
Tim: Speaking for myself, no idea. A lot
can happen in ten years and it’s a brave man who tempts fate by trying to
second guess it. Ideally though, I see myself still married to my beautiful
Lady M, still writing for my good friend John at RVN and, just maybe, making a
living writing freelance articles, short stories and novels.
LadyM: Don’t worry about the future *smiles* worry about cherishing the
things that are important in your life now.
9) Do you
have a lot of people that join your groups and leave – is it sometimes just a
phase people go through?
Tim: As I mentioned before, RVN enjoys
the patronage of a large readership, they are not, however, members. Real
Vampire News is not a member based organisation but we are free to view and,
under certain circumstances, to be able to comment on our stories and features.
From my
experience over 11 years in the OVC, and having run my own message boards in
the OVC, the answer is yes. There is a great and fluid movement both to and
from the community and within the community itself. It is much like any
“country” on earth, people come and people go. Sometimes the transitions are
short term and sometimes long term but the community is always in a state of
flux in one way or another. Is it a “phase” that some go through? In my
opinion, yes – especially when they find out that your average vampire is not
like the ones on television or the movies.
LadyM: It was, and is, the express
intention of RVN to be accessible to everyone who wants to read, and to share
and disperse information freely both within and outside the community.
10) Is there
anything else you would like to say to the general community out there?
Tim: From the RVN perspective I would
like to thank all the readers who continue to support our effort to bring you
quality commentary and discussion. We hope that we are helping, even in some
small way, to improve things both within and outside of the community with our
work at Real Vampire News.
Thanks so much for giving us some
insight into your world and wish you much luck in all your future endeavors.
Nads
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